Linus Torvalds Releases Linux Kernel 5.5 With Better Hardware Support

[steven36]

With the regular milestone of Release Candidate (rc7), Linus Torvalds has announced the first stable release of the Linux kernel 5.5 for the general public.

 

 

Apart from the last-minute network driver fixes, Linux 5.5 includes various improvements for security, the new and upcoming hardware platforms such as Raspberry Pi 4, Intel processors, and Chromebooks.

 

Linux Kernel 5.5: New Features

 

Linux 5.5, named as Kleptomaniac Octopus, brings many file system changes to the XFS, exFAT, and ext4. Ext4 now has direct I/O via iomap and fscrypt support for smaller block sizes.

 

To further increase the security, VMs on Microsoft Hyper-V can finally hibernate, and kernel concurrency sanitizer sets for spotting data race conditions. Inspired by WireGuard’s zinc crypto API, crypto improves to support WireGuard in the upcoming Linux 5.6.

 

Moreover, AMD OverDrive overclocking support is also added for Linux gamers using Navi GPUs along with significant changes to the Linux kernel’s scheduler for better performance.

 

Among hardware support, Wake-On-Voice for newer Google Chromebooks and Logitech keyboard driver is added to the list.  Thunderbolt and Ice lake USB power management have also been improved.

 

You can download the latest kernel v5.5 from here.

 

Moving ahead, in the brief announcement, Linus Torvalds mentioned the opening of the merge window of Linux 5.6 right from the next day of release.

 

More at:  Phoronix

 

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